AFL Canberra Round 9: Eastlake v Reserves

[Bloody Hell]

Comes down to how you fit him in. We already need to lose two players to get Bradshaw and Shaw back in the team. Jetta was "rested" this week but Roos has vowed to bring him back sooner rather than later. Many thought MOD unlucky to lose his spot after just one opportunity, despite being a dominant player in the reserves for most of the season. Veszpremi equipped himself quite well at the weekend but may well be another MOD-style casualty against the Pies. Rohan, too, may soon find himself squeezed out after a relatively lean nght stats wise, despite some good harrassing and pressure, and despite kicking three goals last week. Bear in mind that McPherson has now declared Johnston and TDL ready for senior footy.

Players who were far from dead certs in the senior team at the start of the year, like JPK, Smith and Hanners have truly ensconced themselves in the team. Jack's foothold was stronger than those three but might have been vulnerable to even a slight drop off from last year. His form so far this year shows he has no intention of letting go of his spot. After just two games back from a longish layoff, Bird has picked up the pace very well and shown he is a valuable addition to the side. Meanwhile Benny Mac, despite not having his most productive game, showed how much we have missed his hard-nosed workrate and his pace for the past two months. Moore is not yet back in the team but played some very good football early in the year before his injury.

The reason why we are currently a bottom half of the eight team, not higher, is due to having fewer top notch players than the teams above us (or at least, the ones we have are far less consistent than those in the best teams). The team from spots 5-22 has definitely got better and more even since last year, especially with injuries on the wane (cross fingers). Which is good news for the coaching staff (other than on Thursday nights) but not so good for well-performing players in the reserves.

This is a big post. The thing I want to know most is why you wrote rested as "rested"?

Moore will find it difficult.

I agree with your last paragraph, but at this stage I think it has more to do with experience, rather than quality.